Bolton had to come from behind against Macclesfield to progress in the Carling Cup with a 2-1 win.
Second-half goals eliminate gutsy Macclesfield
Bolton had to come from behind against Macclesfield to progress to the Carling Cup third round with a 2-1 win at the Reebok Stadium.
Emile Sinclair opened the scoring on 11 minutes and the Trotters took until the 56th minute to equalise, and did so courtesy of a fantastic debut strike from Tuncay Sanli.
It was the breakthrough Owen Coyle's side desperately needed, and it was followed by the winner from Martin Petrov on 73 minutes after the Bulgarian was teed up by the impressive Tuncay.
The League Two visitors' early promise had threatened another round two shock but Wanderers' Premier League quality eventually told.
And it was Tuncay, on loan from German side Wolfsburg, who was the catalyst for change.
Debut
The Turkish playmaker was handed his debut at the first available opportunity after receiving work permit clearance, and he made the most of the chance.
Played up front as a centre-forward, Tuncay looked much more comfortable in the second half when substitute Kevin Davies resumed his regular line-leading role, when Tuncay was moved to a role with more freedom.
He perhaps should have put his side ahead early on after Petrov had raced 60 yards down the left to cross, but he blazed over under pressure from Carl Tremarco.
However, Macclesfield, trying to bridge a gap of 75 league places, were far from unsettled and took an 11th-minute lead when Tony Diagne's through-ball allowed Sinclair to sprint clear of a flat-footed defence.
Goalkeeper Adam Bogdan hesitated as he raced out of his area and the striker rounded the goalkeeper to coolly slot into an empty net.
Robbie Blake, Darren Pratley, Chris Eagles and Zat Knight all went close in reply but Macclesfield were not prepared to sit back and defend and a quick break saw Sam Wedgbury's long-range drive fly over with Bogdan at full stretch.
On 30 minutes, Mark Davies' incisive crossfield ball with the outside of his right foot picked out Petrov on the left of the penalty area but the winger smashed his shot against the post.
Tuncay then flashed a header from Eagle's corner across the face of goal before Joe Riley, a 19-year-old Bolton academy debutant, produced an angled drive which Jose Veiga claimed at the second attempt as the visitors held on until the interval.
Davies' arrival
Kevin Davies' arrival for the second half certainly added more threat to the forward line and he almost scored with his first touch as when bundled Riley's low cross wide from close range.
Wanderers manager Owen Coyle was then forced to give an earlier-than-planned debut to another 19-year-old when Adam Blakeman replaced injured left-back Marcos Alonso.
But the pressure was building and after both Tuncay and Blake had forced Veiga into saves at his near post Bolton scored a deserved 56th-minute equaliser.
Riley's cross dropped invitingly for Tuncay, whose scissor-kick volley gave the Macclesfield goalkeeper no chance.
But if Bolton thought they had broken the visitors' resistance they were wrong as Diagne's low free-kick had Bogdan diving to his right to keep the ball from creeping inside the post.
But as the spectre of extra time loomed ever closer Bolton finally got their noses in front with Tuncay playing a pivotal role again.
His cleverly-lofted ball over the top of the defence was picked up by Petrov who fired home inside the near post.
Bolton's greater experience saw them home as they defended solidly and countered-attacked positively as Macclesfield's challenge ran out of steam and they missed out on the third round for the 15th successive season.
